LGP Village Board to Revisit Garage Project Next Week

La Grange Park trustees decided to take more time in deciding whether to take $600,000 in state grants to help pay for the renovation and rebuilding of a garage for the La Grange Park Department of Public Works at a Jan. 10 Village Board Workshop meeting.

The board voted 4-2 to table the motion to accept the state's grant money with an indication that they would revisit the motion at the next board meeting on Jan. 24.

The vote to table the motion came after a confusing series of votes that saw the motion voted down before being reconsidered and tabled again. A vote to table the motion earlier in the meeting had also failed.

Trustees Scott Mesick and LaVelle Topps were the two trustees to vote against tabling the motion and explained they were ready to vote in favor of it, and did not need more time to consider.

Trustees Marshall Seeder and Susan Storcel both said they wanted more time to consider the grant proposal and issues with the public works garage project before they felt they could vote on the motion to accept the state money. Seeder added that he thought more time and notice should be given to the public before a vote was made as well.

Trustee Mesick appeared frustrated several times during the discussion and told fellow board members that if they continued to argue over every detail, the grant money would "slip away."

According to an article in the Doings, the Village Board has discussed several scenarios for the project since 2003, which call for the public works garage located on Barnsdale Road—built in the 1950s—to be renovated or replaced. The Doings also reported that estimates for the project have been as high as $6 million to build a new "green" building to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

The current grant application calls for $1.2 million project to tear down part of the garage that is considered unsafe and to renovate the public works building.

The motion at the Jan. 10 meeting did not call for approval of plans for the project, which Village Manager Julia Cedillo told board members was not finalized and was not submitted as part of the grant's application. The board would have two years to complete the project, and would have flexibility in redesigns as necessary, Cedillo said.

Trustee Seeder said he was concerned about agreeing to the terms of the grant when the board did not know the final price tag of the project. Trustees Storcel and Rocco expressed hesitancy because were not yet elected when the board last discussed the project in February 2011.

"I'm not in a position where I can act on this today," Storcel told board members.

Trustee Rocco told the board that for her part, she was in favor of accepting the grant money, but agreed that more time could be used to study the plans.

President Jim Discipio also agreed that more time could be taken since the board would not lose the grant money if it did not approve the motion to accept it at the Jan. 10 meeting.

"I’m all in favor of [the project] and I wanted it from the beginning," Discipio said. "I understand the concern and I understand the urgency."

President Discipio ultimately voted in favor of tabling the motion, and asked that Cedillo include the topic in the next meeting's agenda. Cedillo told board members she would get them more information on the project following the meeting.

Members of the public that wish to review the grant application and the board's documentation of the project can do so here on the Village's website.